


Twelve Moods

by summerborn



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble Collection, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-30
Updated: 2006-07-30
Packaged: 2017-10-27 22:19:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/300651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerborn/pseuds/summerborn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twelve short shorts, written for the <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/lupin_snape/763481.html">Mood Theme Drabble Challenge</a> over at lj: lupin_snape.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twelve Moods

**Author's Note:**

> <http://summerborn.dreamwidth.org/profile>

  


#### Gloomy

Severus Snape knew better than to startle a wild animal. He also knew that Lupin could hear him coming: he made sure of it, splashing his boots in the water so that the sound was audible over the soft crash of waves against the shore.

The wind caught at his cloak and pulled his hair off of his face as he approached the werewolf, who stood gazing out into the water, giving no sign that he knew Severus was there.

No sign, that is, until Severus drew up short several feet away and waited. Then Lupin exhaled a little, turned his head, and gave Severus that same soft smile.

It was maddening. How could this man--werewolf--still look at him as though this were just another casual greeting in the corridor, or just another meeting for tea, like they'd had so often during the course of the year?

"I won't apologize," Severus said abruptly. "You endangered the children."

Lupin looked away. Severus could barely hear the words: "I know."

For a moment, Severus was at a loss for how to respond. Nothing ever went the way he anticipated, not when it came to Remus Lupin. But there was only one way to come out of this encounter with any dignity at all.

He turned, and didn't look back.

-:-

  


#### Good

"What are you smirking about, Lupin?"

Remus raised his eyebrows. "You call this a smirk? If anyone is smirking, I think it's you, Severus."

"If it's not a smirk, then please, enlighten me. What _is_ that ridiculous expression on your face?"

Remus could feel his smile grow wider. Severus wouldn't have asked if he didn't _really_ want to know. "What, you mean the upturned corners of my mouth? That's called a smile."

Severus leaned closer. "And what would a werewolf like you have to smile about?" The low, sultry voice sent a shiver down Remus' spine.

He reached out impulsively and patted Severus on the arm. "I just feel pretty good, Severus. It's not every day I get asked to dinner by the Potions master."

-:-

  


#### Grateful

Remus rubbed his eyes with one hand. "All right, Severus, I think I'm about done for tonight."

There was no answer. Remus looked up from the lesson plan he'd been working on. "Severus?"

For a moment, Remus thought that the Potions master had been replaced by a mound of something black and soft-looking… hair? He blinked, and realized that Severus had fallen asleep, head pillowed on his arms on the table.

Remus got to his feet and moved around to the other side of Severus so he could see his face. In sleep, the man looked younger than Remus had ever seen him, his lips parting slightly with every slow breath. There was still a tightness around his eyes, a small frown even in sleep, as if Severus could never truly relax.

"You work too hard," Remus said softly. He retrieved his cloak from the hook by Severus' door and laid it gently across the man's shoulders.

He lingered one moment more, and then touched his fingertip to Severus' lips. "But I appreciate it."

-:-

  


#### Groggy

The first thing Remus noticed when he opened his eyes was that he wasn't in his own room. The second thing was that Severus was already shrugging into his robes and heading out the door. He hadn't noticed that Remus was awake yet.

 _So it's like this, then,_ Remus thought. He wasn't surprised, really. He'd never expected Severus to open up as much as he had last night. It would be just greedy to want anything else from the man. And yet…

He sat up in the bed and rubbed at his eyes. _Shit._ He sighed and reached for his shirt, forgotten on the floor sometime during the first few moments of recklessness.

He looked up when Severus came back in, carrying two steaming mugs. "'I love snakes'?" Remus couldn't help but tease.

Severus shrugged. "Don't you?" He handed Remus one of the mugs and stifled a yawn. Remus blinked.

-:-

  


#### Grumpy

"Good morning, Severus! Here, I fixed you a cup of tea."

If Snape had ever wondered, he'd just been given proof: There was no God. He upped the intensity of his scowl, and sat in the last empty seat at the Head Table... right next to the too-bloody-cheerful new DADA professor. "Bugger off."

"Don't be silly," Remus chuckled. Severus made a note to hex the man's bollocks to oblivion, sometime later when the caffeine had kicked in. He took a sip of the tea, eyed it, and then turned a suspicious glare to Remus.

"How did you--"

Remus smiled.

-:-

  


#### Guilty

Snape's first clue that something was amiss was the quiet. Usually the werewolf made at least _some_ noise as it prowled the laboratory. Not that he was listening at the door, of course.

After two years, Snape was finally comfortable locking the wolf up in his lab for the transformations. Oh, he'd protested at first, but Lupin had put forth a good argument: it _was_ the best-warded room at Spinner's End, and Lupin knew better than to touch anything. As long as he had his wolfsbane potion, which Snape made sure he always did.

Just when he had convinced himself to quit worrying about the ominous silence from the lab, there was a terrific _CLANG!_ Snape shot to his feet and ran to the door.

He could have kept a straight face, he thought later, if it hadn't been for the blob of strained bubotuber pus on the wolf's snout.

-:-

  


#### Happy

Even though it never snowed in Florida, Remus liked to put up a tree every year and make hot chocolate. Severus scoffed the first year, acted surprised the second year ("Still, Lupin?"), was silent the third year, and by the fourth year he was actually helping with the tinsel when Remus wasn't looking.

The fifth year of their self-imposed double exile, Remus was rather astonished to find an actual present under the tree. He stopped to pick it up, and a moment later felt a presence behind him.

"Happy Christmas," Severus murmured in his ear.

"Yes." Remus smiled. "It is."

-:-

  


#### High

The first Saturday that was both clear _and_ windy was a busy one for Remus Lupin. The spars had to be checked out and adjusted; the sail itself smoothed over and examined carefully for tears or snags; and he was pleased to find that he’d have to construct an entirely new tail.

It was early afternoon by the time he made it out to the grounds, but the wind was still perfect. He was right in the middle of a difficult Lazy Susan when he heard a voice from several yards off.

"Aren't you a little old to be flying a kite, Lupin?"

Remus grinned. Just like old times. "Not at all, Severus!" he called back. "Would you like to join me?"

"No."

Several minutes went by. Remus considered bringing the kite down for relaunch, but he waited it out.

"You're not coming into it level, Lupin."

He was as good as gold. "I'm not? Maybe I should tighten up a bit—" He tugged on the line, tipping the kite over.

"No, you—"

Another brief silence, and then Severus was there, taking the string out of his hands. Remus relinquished control of the kite and watched as Severus let the line out and spun the kite like a professional.

"You should have made the bridle lines longer, Lupin. There isn't enough room to turn it properly."

It was even just possible that the man was right. Remus covered his chuckle. "Where'd you learn to fly a kite, Severus?"

Severus spared him a sidelong glare. "None of your business, Lupin."

-:-

  


#### Hopeful

"Nice day, isn't it Severus?"

"Do you have to be so… _pleasant_ all the time?" Snape didn't take his eyes off the grassy path.

"I don't 'have to', any more than you 'have to' be so _un_ pleasant, Severus." Lupin fell in beside him.

Snape did look up at that. "What do you mean? You act that way just to counterbalance _my_ behavior?"

Lupin didn't quite smile, but the effect was the same. Snape raised an eyebrow. "But then what would you do if I stopped being unpleasant?"

"Why, Severus," Lupin said, "I live in hope of seeing such a day."

-:-

  


#### Blah

Severus didn't pick his head up when he heard his name being called. Remus was never circumspect, but at least this time Severus knew they were alone in the library.

"There you are," the boy said as he came up to Severus' table. "Lunch is in ten minutes; I thought we might—"

"I'm not hungry."

"Oh." This clearly wasn't what Remus had expected. "Hey, I just got a book on Intermediate Transfigur—"

"Not interested."

"We could go outside and—"

"No."

Remus huffed; a soft, patient noise. "Well, what do _you_ want to do?"

"Nothing."

There was a long pause. Severus shifted his head on his arms, and waited.

"Well." Remus sat down. "Maybe tomorrow, then."

-:-

  


#### Cheerful

"Look, Harry, if you don't want to go—"

"I _said_ I would, Malfoy, now leave—"

Harry broke off at the sound of voices—the last thing he needed was to be overheard setting up trysts with Slytherins—but when he and Draco exchanged glances and peered around the corner, neither of them were prepared for what they saw.

"What the hell do they have on their hands?" Draco's voice was hushed.

Harry blinked. Repeatedly. "Puppets."

It was obvious from Snape's face that if he ever knew that Harry and Draco knew, they were both as good as dead.

-:-

  


#### Complacent

There was no other word for it: Remus was _lounging,_ casually, against the bed as if he had every right to look smug and satisfied. Severus felt a strange warmth at that, but it was a lazy sort of warmth, and it only made him want to wipe that smirk off Remus' face.

"What are you going to do now, Lupin?"

The man leaned back on his arm, turned to face Severus. "I thought, to start, I might use your shower."

"That's not—you know perfectly well what I mean."

Remus gave a half-shrug, seeming at ease. "I've been fired before. I'll find work again." And he grinned. _Damn_ him.

-:-


End file.
